Most Thrivecart reviews are trying to sell you Thrive Cart in order to make a commission… Because that's their only business.
This is kinda shady and results in you getting PUSHED towards software that may not be perfect for you.
The goal of this post is to help you understand ThriveCart (and the other options) better so you can make an intelligent decision whether it's the right tool for you.
Full disclosure: Yes I'm an affiliate… But I have two wildly successful businesses (that run on Thrive) and I'm not here to make commissions.
My goal here is to help you avoid disaster and get started with the correct foundation from day one.
You see, if you get started on the wrong shopping cart and have to migrate a running membership program to a new shopping cart later, that is an absolute disaster!
You can lose subscriptions, you can lose months of time and energy… And ultimately you will lose customers.
How do I know?
I found Thrive Cart after ClickFunnels began dropping member payments while still giving members access.
After Click Funnels lost over $10,000 of my money it was time to move.
Thrive Cart and Sam Cart were the two shopping carts I considered for my Clickfunnels alternative when it was time to change.
My requirements were:
- Must be able to run 'bump offers' (the check-box to add a product to the order on the checkout page)
- Must be able to run multiple 'One click upsell' offers in series
- Must be able to run 'downsell offers'
- Must be BULLET PROOF with the ability to handle thousands of transactions per year.
These requirements pointed to two possible options which you'll learn about next.
Thrivecart vs. SamCart
I had already been using SamCart on my wife's main website and we've generated over $739,578.15 in revenue through that shopping cart.
For my full SamCart review, click here.
One of the biggest differences between the two, Sam Cart has a recurring monthly fee, meaning it costs you more over time…
The additional expense does offer you additional functionality that advanced marketers will want.
The main benefit of SamCart is that it's checkout pages are infinitely customizable...
This means you can run A/B split tests on your checkout pages!
Your checkout page is one of the most important conversion points on your website.
If you are focused on constantly increasing your conversions, like I am…
And you run hundreds of transactions per month...
The ability to split test checkout pages on SamCart can more than cover the additional costs.
Plus, you can build out '1 page funnels' on SamCart which are CRUSHING IT in many niches right now… And you simply can't do this on Thrive.
Thrive cart's checkout pages are very limited in their look, design and customization…
For many businesses, this is not a problem and for new Internet marketers selling their first products online…
The flat fee on TC and annual savings of hundreds if not thousands of dollars may be more important to you, at this point.
SamCart and ThriveCart Pricing
Although Thrive cart has claimed it will be changing to a monthly payment option at $97 per month…
Right now, Thrive cart is offering a lifetime license for a 1 time fee of $595.
On SamCart's basic option ($99/mo with no affiliate module) you end up paying over $590 more in the first year and then about $1200 more each additional year compared to Thrive.
It is worth repeating.
If you have a high volume business that generates hundreds of sales per month, your ability to split test checkout pages on Sam Cart will likely allow you to make 5x to 10x more than the cost back each year.
This has proven true for me which is why I'm still on Sam Cart for my one-off product offerings and Facebook PPC funnels.
When Is Thrive Cart Better Than ClickFunnels & SamCart?
This is the ultimate question: When is ThriveCart the best option for your online business?
The simple answer is: Membership sites!
This is not to say that Thrive cart doesn't work well with physical products, for Shopify stores, one-off digital products, coaching, free plus shipping, etc.
I'll get to that…
But Thrive cart is one of the easiest shopping carts to build out a successful membership program on.
And membership programs are the holy grail of recurring income!
I teach a specific membership funnel that I've used to create multiple six figure online businesses.
Thrive cart's system works perfect with this funnel and the default checkout pages and upsell pages convert great in this scenario.
The basics of the funnel are offering a one dollar seven-day trial followed by a monthly recurring payment…
After the user checks out, you offer an annual upsell at a steep discount.
Having set this funnel up on multiple systems, including Clickfunnels (don't even try it there, lol!) and Samcart...
I can tell you firsthand that it is way easier to build and manage this funnel and the customers' subscriptions on Thrive cart.
Since Thrive is a standalone shopping cart you still need some sort of a membership module, or plug-in that will receive the payment information and deliver access to your customer.
You will learn more about the different options in the integrations section below...
But if you are wanting to set up a membership program, ThriveCart is a great option.
On the two membership programs I run, we use Thrive cart on both.
Real quick on that $595 sticker price…
If that is just too much for you to handle at this point, but you still need a solid shopping cart, I recommend you check out that eStore plugin that is also a 1 time fixed fee.
Click here to learn about the eStore plugin.
This is the first shopping cart I started with many years ago.
It is extremely simple, has very few bells and whistles, but it WORKS!
The developers are very responsive, still update it and it is a cheap, flat fee option.
With that said, if you are investing for the long term and you can afford the $595 now, Thrive is a much better shopping cart and you'll probably eventaully upgrade anyways…
If that's the case, just click here and get Thrive Cart now.
Ok, that said, lets move on to some of the tech behind Thrive…
ThriveCart Integrations
For a long time Thrive cart was actually the number one leader in integrations out of any shopping cart solution.
Their direct tag based integrations work amazingly well with marketing automation solutions like ActiveCampaign, Ontraport, Infusionsoft, etc.
In the last year, SamCart has actually mirrored this integration model and they both work the same, now…
ClickFunnels is not even a contender in this area!
To go deeper… We need to break up the Thrive cart integrations into multiple sections…
Payment processors, autoresponders, membership platforms, webinar platforms & more.
Thrivecart Payment Gateways
The most important connection that your shopping cart will make is with the payment gateway… These are the people who actually run the transactions and charger clients.
For me, I have Stripe, PayPal and Apple pay all tied in and they work flawlessly.
With more and more traffic coming from mobile and more mobile users getting comfortable making payments through their cell phones, Apple pay has created a significant boost in my conversion rates and profits.
Again, Thrive cart was a leader in the shopping cart world by adding on the Apple pay functionality very early.
Additional payment gateways for Thrive that I'm not using are: Authorize.net, Android pay.
Thrive Cart Membership Integrations & Marketing Automation
As I mentioned above, this is one of the areas Thrive Cart excels.
Personally I am using active campaign that directly receives tags from Thrive cart upon specific actions (new customer, failed payment, refund, cancel, etc.) And these tags run specific automations inside of activecampaign.
All of the customers information, passwords, and access are controlled through active campaign.
I then use ActiveMember360, a WordPress plug-in, to receive the member access information from active campaign and give members access to the appropriate content based on their purchase.
My active campaign automation drips new content access each month that a member stays on. When they cancel, miss a payment, or refund…
They are eliminated and their account access is revoked.
Personally, I hired Dave from IntegratePro.com to set this all up for me… He's awesome.
If you're wanting help building out your membership program on Thrive, he is the man! Be sure to tell him Miles sent you…
I'm not an affiliate of his and I don't receive a kickback. Just a happy client of his who likes to spread the good word!
Integrations With Membership Plugins
Now, there are a number of additional ways you can integrate Thrive shopping cart with your members content…
If you run on WordPress , Thrive integrates directly with MemberPress, MemberMouse, and Wishlist.
If you are on a stand alone course management or learning management system, it integrates with Kajabi and Teachable.
For Infusionsoft users, Hubspot users and Ontraport fans…
Thrive integrates directly with these marketing automation solutions too.
If you run webinars, Thrive integrates with Webinar Ninjas and Demio.
ThriveCart & Physical Products
Another example of how Thrive cart is truly a leader in the shopping cart software world, they integrate extremely well with multiple fulfillment systems and Shopify.
First is the direct integration with your Shopify store and integration with Zapier...
With these two, you can use Thrive to sell a nearly infinite number of physical products.
You can push all transactions that happen in your Thrive shopping cart directly into your Shopify store, seamlessly.
If you are wanting to create free plus shipping book funnels, DVD funnels or CD funnels…
Or to integrate directly to your fulfillment partner for CD sets, workbooks, calendars, thumb drives, print on demand items, etc...
They've got you covered.
Specifically, for product fulfillment Thrive integrates with:
- Disk.com
- Lulu
- Kunaki
- Printful
- Shippo
- Shipstation
- Vervante
This creates an extremely scaleable solution for you, for a huge variety of products...
If you are planning on going big with your Facebook advertising to a free plus shipping funnel.
Is ThriveCart Right For You?
This is the ultimate question…
And with so many software providers getting into the 'shopping cart' and 'sales funnel' game, the number of options you have available are staggering.
If you want a professional level shopping cart that can handle multiple six figures in transactions each year…
But you don't want to have a recurring monthly fee…
And you want the ability to create a variety of upsell funnels, downsell funnels, bump offers, etc…
Click here and get Thrivecart today before they switch from the lifetime license to a monthly pricing model!
You'll save thousands over the life of your account this way!
If you want to be able to A/B Split test your checkout pages and have full customization control click here and get Samcart.
If you want the cheapest shopping cart for WordPress, go with the eStore plugin here.
Any questions for me, leave me a comment below…
I'm happy to elaborate on anything covered here!
Cheers and happy selling!
